Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani-owned Jio that has forayed into pure-play 4G telecom services in September 2016 on the back of freebies has led Sunil Mittal-driven market leader Bharti Airtel, UK-based Vodafone India and Aditya Birla group’s Idea Cellular to a receiving end.

“USO fund, I sincerely believe, should not be wasted on obsolete technologies, it should be on progressive technologies because rural India needs it,” Jio President Mathew Oommen said at the ETTelecom India Mobile Conclave 2018.

In 1999, the Indian government had come up with a corpus for facilitating rural telephony by way of charging Universal Access Levy, and in April 2002, a policy to support for the Universal Service Obligation was enacted.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is sitting on a USO kitty of Rs 48,549 crores, while it has only disbursed Rs 4,993 during 2017-18 and Rs 7,227 in 2016-17 towards enhancing rural infrastructure in order to bridge digital divide.

“With all IP network, do we need Point of Interconnection (PoI) on national long distance (NLD) or international long distance (ILD) network for access,” Oommen questions, and added that, “We need converged PoI as we are one nation, and through call detail record (CDR), we can though determine the nature of call if it is an NLD or ILD.”

Lately, PoI or Point of Interconnection has become one of the most contentious issues between Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone India on one side and Reliance Jio on the other, while incumbents blame sector watchdog Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) of favouring Mukesh Ambani’s telco.

New round of spat erupted when telecom regulator had on February 16 issued new tariff norms that calls for an examination tariff of a significant market player or one holding a share of at least 30% in the specific market area to curb predatory pricing.

Market-leader Bharti Airtel and merged entity Vodafone-Idea, in many circles would have a share surpassing 30%, and hence, could be a subject to scrutiny, according to analysts.

Jio’s top executive stressed upon the need to shift towards advanced wireless technologies, and said that one should deliver on the pace of innovation, in tandem with the creation of new infrastructure, and must not ride on “obsolete” infrastructure while ensuring affordability and reach to all.

Incumbents such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), still have legacy networks running on 2G technology, and in order to take on arch rival Jio, they are now banking on VoLTE (Voice over LTE) technology.

Oommen, formerly worked with the US-based telecom major Sprint Nextel, is a key executive behind new player Jio’s network and service delivery strategy that has led to a huge service disruption and sparked market consolidation.

“It is important, not because I work for Mukesh, but there is no man in India or in this planet to take framework where we are today in last 18 months,” he said, and added that the company was in talks with partners to sustain business without compromising on innovation, affordability and customer advocacy.

Oommen also said that one knows that India’s Prime Minister has been driving the Digital India and New India growth and in his own way rewriting the history.

Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Digital India, launched in 2014, at an initial outlay of Rs 1.13 lakh crore, aims to bring 100% tele-density with broadband highways and e-delivery of citizen-centric services.

“There is no harm in collectivity whether it is Bharti, Vodafone, Reliance Jio or BSNL put together, and having an opportunity to take credit for all accomplishments in the course of last 18 months or so,” he said.

To protect the security of this nation and its people and responsibility to create new jobs are the pillars of empowerment and that can be delivered by the National Digital and Telecom Policy, Jio’s top executive added.

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After PSU banks, the government is likely to infuse capital in two chronically ill telecom PSUs BSNL and MTNL, and the Union Cabinet is likely to take a decision on 4G spectrum allocation to them by the third week of the current month after DoT places the note before it for consideration.

At a high-level meeting at the PMO late Tuesday, it was also decided that the two telcos will frame a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) to reduce their employee strength, which will be followed by a reduction in the retirement age to 58.